The Shadows Grow Longer
by die Schatten
Summary: Mikan has always been an ordinary girl. When the extra-ordinary started to creep in on her, she didn't know what to think. Vampires, oversized birds of prey, a strange boy called Natsume who strangled her at first glance - what did it all mean?
1. Down that path

Disclaimer: Gakuen Alice does not belong to me. Is that a surprise or _what_?

* * *

_Down that path, into darkness deep as hell..._

* * *

Shit. This could not be happening. I quickly slid off my heels and looked around again. Those two shadows in the distance – they had been behind me for quite some time now, turning the corners that I turned and following the routes that I had taken. I was quite sure that they were closer than they had been a few minutes ago, and I had just realised that I had no idea where I was.

Great. I must have turned down the wrong road before, and doubling back was not an option right now, with those people behind me. Again, I though, this cannot be happening to me.

Okay, fine, it was way too late for a girl to be walking back home by herself, and this town wasn't exactly the most friendly of neighbourhoods, but still. I had refused to believe that I would be the next victim of these streets and so stupidly set out alone.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid._

Just like everyone kept telling me I was. I started walking at a faster pace and looked back in dismay to see the two men even closer. Right. Well, no use running – even when I hadn't just been in an all-night party, I had never come better than last place in all those school sports days. My phone, I remembered, had been flushed down a dirty toilet a few hours ago by some jerks who I didn't know.

Right or left? To turn right meant turning into a small alley that looked more dangerous than the street to the left, but I didn't recognise either of them. I turned left and immediately realised my mistake – just a little way into this street, the way was blocked by a grey brick wall.

_What kind of fricking moron puts a wall in the middle of a street?!_

I tried to calm my breathing. Nothing to do except go back the way I came. My heart was pounding hard against my ribs as I turned around to face the men. They were less than ten metres away now. I took a deep breath and bolted.

An arm caught me in the stomach as I ran past them and I fell, winded. A face leered over mine and I felt a foot on my chest, pinning me to the ground.

"She's a pretty one, ain't she?" growled one of the men, the one standing over me. I managed to free one of my hands and attempted to hit and hurt something, but to no effect. Why hadn't I signed up for those self-defence classes?

"Just knock 'er out and let's go," said the other one. I felt someone drag me upright – I tried to say something, to shout for help, but a hand over my mouth and a kick to the stomach prevented that idea. I doubled over in pain and closed my eyes.

"Yeah, wait a moment, will ya?"

"Hurry up then," the other one said.

I managed to open my mouth behind the man's hand, and I quickly bit down hard on it. I heard a grunt of pain and, "You take 'er! The little slut just bit me!" He roughly pushed me over to the other man, taking care to kick me and twist my arm as I went – I staggered and felt a dry cloth gag forced into my mouth.

"Good evening," said a voice out of nowhere. I opened my eyes – that voice had definitely not been one of these men.

"You talking to us?" snarled the second man, the one I couldn't see.

"Clear your shit out of here!" said the other at the same time, twisting my hands harder. I squeaked in agony behind the cloth covering most of my face. Although I couldn't see the intruder, but he had to be nicer than these two guys… I looked closer at the scene around me.

"You need to learn to play nice," the voice said. I could've sworn I saw that shadow over there move; was that who it was? I couldn't tell if the speaker was a man or woman, and that might've freaked me out a little more if I hadn't been in fear of sudden death just then or silently screaming in pain.

"I said, get your fat ass out of here!

"Why don't you?" The speaker moved out of the shadows and smiled. Or at least I think he did. Or she. It was too dark to tell, really.

"Dude, let's just go," said the second kidnapper. Or was it the first? I couldn't tell any more, and I couldn't remember which one was the one holding me, and the blood was pounding in my head too loudly for me to tell who was speaking now.. "There's no point wasting your time with this freak."

"Shut the hell up," said the other. "No-one 'round here's gonna tell us what to do."

"You're gonna get the whole eastside gang on us – look, I'm taking the girl and going, alright?" I felt the man behind me move and I instinctively ducked my head – the blow glanced painfully off the side of my head instead and into his other hand instead. I felt a hard slap on my face as he swore violently. _At least I'm conscious… _

"Those losers, huh? Look, whoever the hell you are, I got a gun and I'm not afraid to use it," said the other man.

Whoever the non-kidnapper voice was, they were probably my only hope of getting out of this with some sanity… I struggled in protest. No use, though. My head was throbbing sorely and I had a feeling that something was bleeding. It probably wouldn't be too long until the one behind me got over his injured hand and took me out for good.

"Oh, I don't think so," the non-kidnapper said. As he moved fully into the moonlight, I could make out an androgynously beautiful face with pale wavy hair – and the gleam of bared fangs.

_Vampire?_

My mind was too jumbled for proper thoughts to arrange themselves. As soon as that word had entered my head, it was all too much. Swirls of colour erupted behind my bruised eyelids – I closed my eyes and saw pure black.

* * *

There was something around my neck and it was strangling me. I couldn't breathe – I had to get out, I needed air! I gasped for oxygen and opened my eyes.

"Who are you?" said a low voice from just behind my ear. I jerked into full wakefulness and tried to look behind me.

"Let… me… breathe! Ugh!" I choked out. Where was I? Was this one of those guys who had kidnapped me?

I felt the hold around my neck loosen and I breathed in a gulp of fresh air at once. "Who are you?" repeated the voice. It was a low voice and tinged with suspicion and dislike, but it was definitely not one of the men from earlier. It sounded younger, more wary.

"Who are you?! And why are you trying to throttle me?" I said angrily. I'd had enough of attempted murder for one day.

"Shut up and answer the question! Why are you here?"

"I'm Mikan Sakura and I have no idea why I'm here or where this is. Get your arms off my neck!"

"You must know why – stop playing stupid, little girl. Tell me, or I'll set your whole head on fire." A hand was thrust up in front of my face and the grip on my neck tightened again.

"I… don't know!" Set me on fire? With what? My head was spinning again and I felt ready to faint for the second time that day.

"Quit joking; tell me what you're doing here or-" he was cut off by a sudden loud crash, and I twisted round to see a large window shatter and something fly into the room.

"Luca, you're late," the throttler said, releasing me from his hold. Finally! I took a deep breath gratefully and sat up. I caught sight of my would-be strangler at the end of the couch – a boy, a young man about my own age with dark hair and a scowling expression. Well. That suited the tone of voice, anyway. The thing that had just broken in through the window was actually two things: another boy, this one with blond hair, and a giant eagle.

A giant eagle?

No, that could not be real. I suddenly remembered the fangs I thought I had seen back in the alleyway, and as soon as I remembered that, I wondered how I had got from there to this rather cosy living room with a giant eagle. Had someone brought me? Where were they now? And who were these two?

"Who are you?" I said out loud, watching the eagle carefully. It looked real enough, even through my blurry vision (I rubbed my eyes – must be a side-effect of getting punched in the face or something out on the street), preening its glossy feathers and fixing me with its fierce glare. I looked away. After all, something had to have smashed that glass.

"If you really don't know, there's no use in me telling you," said the dark-haired one. He turned back to the other boy – Luca, he had called him – and continued their conversation.

This was getting annoying now. "Who are you people? I just woke up here and I honestly don't know where I am or whose place this is, and then you just try and _kill_ me and threaten to burn me or something when I tell you the truth and expect me to not ask any questions and just play along with your stupid little games! Where are we and how did I get here? Why is there a massive eagle sitting on the windowsill?"

Luca looked at me curiously. "Natsume, are you sure she's a threat? She seems pretty clueless to me."

That's right – just pretend I'm not there, will you? I was quite sure that I was not the Natsume he was talking to.

"I've never seen her before in my life," Natsume replied. "If she's not a threat, then I couldn't care less about her. She's just a kid, anyway; hasn't got her fangs yet. Let's go."

"If Narumi brought her here along with you, she must be someone worth saving, even if she's a bit dense. What's her name and family?"

"Why can't you just talk to me?" I said irritably.

Natsume ignored me, but Luca turned to me. "What's your name? What's the last thing you remember?"

"Mikan Sakura. I was walking back home last night, some guys tried to rape me, and then this other guy – or girl, I didn't really see – probably saved me, but I fainted before I could do anything else," I replied. "Are you going to tell me who you are?" This one, Luca, seemed much nicer than the Nasty Throttler Natsume.

Luca looked a little worried. "Sakura isn't a name I know… and she speaks in a strange way." He looked as if he was going to say something else, but a sudden loud banging noise on the wall next to me startled all of us.

"Luca, we have to go _now_. I don't want to have to thank that idiot Naru for saving my ass. We can discuss her later." Natsume started to climb onto the eagle as he spoke.

"Hey, wait!" I called, but it was too late. The bird launched itself out of the window, the two boys on its back. I belatedly realised that not one of my questions had been answered – well, the ones that weren't sarcastic – nor had they properly introduced themselves. Huh, _discuss_ me like I was some kind of object.

_God, why did guys have to be so irritating?_

_Arrogant bastards._

I lay back on the comfortable couch and tried to order my thoughts. Some time ago – I had no idea what time it was now or how long I had been unconscious – I had almost been, well, I didn't really want to think about what might have happened. It was still pitch-black dark outside, so I guessed that I'd been out for a few hours. Or maybe it was tomorrow night? I looked around for a calendar and didn't find one. That person who had in all probability saved me and brought me here – who were they? And those fangs. I shivered involuntarily. That Natsume boy had mentioned that word as well. Speaking of Natsume, why had he been so, well, _nasty?_ Ugh. I could only assume that the abnormally huge eagle was some sort of pre-planned escape route relying on the help of his friend Luca, although as to why Natsume needed to escape in the first place was beyond me. And, I remembered, how exactly had he planned to set fire to me when there was obviously no fire in the room?

I sighed. This was all beyond me. I decided to wait until I had a little more strength or until my rescuer came in. Hoping for a distraction, I let my gaze wander around the room.

It was a normal sort of living room. A dark red couch with an overload of cushions, where I was lying, and a few armchairs. A few lamps with fancy silk coverings and many ornate mirrors, and a rather luxurious rug on the floor. There were also many beautiful and exotic flowers in expensive-looking carved pots placed around the room, I realised. More than I had thought before – there were plants everywhere, from the little ones on the bookshelves to the enormous multicoloured blossoms that sprang up in every corner of the room. In another contrast to the seemingly antique furniture and plant-life-filled atmosphere of the room, there were also a TV and a few high-tech objects that I didn't recognise at all. All in all, it seemed to be the home of a reasonably well-off plant-lover, although the broken window did distract a little from that. Vandalism. I snorted. That Natsume definitely seemed like a vandalist kind of guy.

I turned my head towards the window in question. The firefly lights of the town stretched out underneath, and I thought I could recognise a few landmarks such as that giant blue neon advert for the latest model in Penguin-Robots.

My thoughts about the Nasty Throttler Natsume and robots were interrupted by the door opening. I quickly sat up again and tried to make out the person coming into the room. The lamplight was dim and my eyes still felt a bit weak, but I could just about see pale yellow hair on a slim figure moving towards me.

"Oh, you're awake," it said happily. The same voice that I had heard outside on the street. The person sounded like a man, although I still wasn't really sure. I felt a bit stupid at the prospect of asking, so I didn't.

"Uh, yeah," I said. "What happened?" I hoped that this person would be slightly friendlier than Natsume. Ugh, I could feel myself getting cross at the thought of that jerk.

"You fainted, so I brought you back here. This is where I live; my name's Anju, but everyone calls me by my surname, Narumi. What's your name? And what happened to me window?" He frowned at the mess. "Did Natsume manage to break out through that? It's a penthouse drop, and I'm quite sure when I checked that he didn't have any stones on him."

Well, this guy seemed pretty nice, even if I did have no idea what stones had to do with anything. Then again, I knew Anju was a girl's name, and this person _was_ wearing clothes that would have suited a girl – a white shirt with a stone pendant necklace and tight black trousers… I smiled and tried to look grateful rather than confused or scared. "My name's Mikan, Mikan Sakura. Pleased to meet you! Where did those men go? Can I call my granddad? Why did Natsume try to strangle me? This other boy who he called Luca flew in through the window on a giant bird and carried him off. They were so rude to me and didn't even say who they were or anything! _And_ that Natsume one said he was going to burn my head off after trying to suffocate me just 'cos I didn't know where I was and because he didn't recognise me. Urgh!" My words were coming out in a bit of a loud rush. I hoped I didn't look too crazy.

"Oh, they probably just ran off. I should have known that Natsume would try something like that," he said, a slight smile on his lips. He _was_ inhumanly pretty, I realised. Then I remembered that he might not be a he and carried on listening to what he was saying. I still wasn't sure if he was smiling at my insane babbling or the fact that his captive had escaped out of a top-storey window on a giant bird. "He can pay for the window later. About your granddad…" he trailed off, looking a bit unsure of what to say. He sat down in an armchair opposite the couch.

"What?"

"There's something I need to talk to you about," he said after a few seconds.

Right. That was strange. Hadn't I only just met him? And what was wrong with calling my granddad? Oh no, he must be really worried by now – I had promised to call him if I was getting back later than I expected, and now…

"What's the time?" I said aloud.

"Almost seven in the morning."

"So… what do you need to tell me about?"

He laughed nervously. "I think I'll wait until someone else gets here – probably in a few minutes – so they can talk to you instead… I always hate explaining stuff like this. Actually, no, don't bother. They'll probably all shout at me for shirking my responsibilities again." He paused, frowned, and didn't speak for a while. I sat there and willed angry psychic thoughts at the two men outside and Natsume, until Narumi finally said, "Is your grandfather your biological grandfather?"

"Um, no, why?" I was feeling more and more puzzled by the second and there was a growing sense of unease in my stomach. How had he known that I was adopted? Not even all my friends knew about that. Did I know this Narumi from somewhere? No, I definitely would have recognised someone like that.

"I thought not. How old are you? When did he adopt you? And another thing, you said that Natsume threatened you with his fire? Did he manage to actually burn you at all?"

Should I be answering these questions? This was really personal for someone I had known for five minutes. But he _had_ saved me from those men… but then again, everyone always told me that I made these kind of stupid choices… but what harm could it do? If he already knew I was adopted, then there must be something else going on that I didn't know about, and I wanted that information. Whatever it was. Argh! Stupid decisions! This was probably another of my typically idiotic moments. I had a nagging feeling that I would pay for it later.

"Uh… I think he took me in when I was really little, less than a year old probably, but apparently I was just left on the street so I don't know when my birthday is or how old I really really am. I just made it up and decided that I was born on New Year's Day. But I've lived with my granddad for nineteen years, so I just say that I'm nineteen."

He nodded. "And Natsume?"

"I didn't see any fire…" I replied, confused.

"That fits in too." He sighed and looked straight into my eyes. "This is about your real family, Mikan."

_My real family…_

"What is it?" I said, trying to keep my voice steady. I knew my habit of being very loud and excitable at these kind of moments, but right now I didn't think my injuries could stand it. Speaking of which, where were my injuries?

"Where are my injuries?" I asked before he could open his mouth.

"I used a healing stone on them. But the main point is, I think I know who your parents are."

I tried not to think about what a healing stone might be and concentrated on the rest of his speech. "How do you know about this?" I asked. I was shaking slightly, I realised.

"Your mother, if I'm right, was an old friend of mine."

"How did you know her? How did you know she's _my_ mother?" I couldn't believe this. Of all the chances in the world…

"You look exactly like her – and besides, it all fits perfectly," he said, smiling. "Almost the exact image, although she wore her hair much shorter." I could tell he was looking at my extravagantly long hair. Actually, it wasn't _that_ long, just down to my waist. My granddad always insisted that it was much too long for a normal person, and a nineteen year old girl should not still be wearing her hair in pigtails, and had tried to force me to cut it many times.

My granddad-hair-cutting train of thought was derailed by Narumi speaking again.

"There's one more thing. If you're really her daughter, then you're also a vampire."

* * *

_Thanks for reading._


	2. But in those dreams

_Thanks to everyone who reviewed._

_

* * *

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_But in those dreams were hidden dragons..._

* * *

I blinked. "What? I mean, pardon?"

"I know this will come as a great shock to you, but I'm being serious here. You are a member of one of the most well-known vampire families."

Had I fallen asleep again? I pinched myself and let out a squeak when it hurt. A lot. "No, you can't be serious. Why? How? When? I don't get it! Why are you saying this? I don't even, well, I don't even have the right teeth and I'm always in the sun! This is a joke, right? Do you, like, have any proof or something?" I took a deep breath and made sure I hadn't risen to ultrasonic pitch yet.

"It's no joke." Narumi sat back in the armchair and put his feet up on the table. "There are certain signs and features... like your strong spirit, for example. An ordinary human would never have recovered so quickly from what you just went through - mentally, I mean, because obviously a healing Stone was used on your body..." The 's' of the "stone" sounded like it should be capitalised when he said it.

"This is like what happens in some of my manga," I said. "Only if it's true, of course. Which it can't be. Just please let me call my granddad so I can go home. I won't bother you any more!" I could think about Stones and strong spirits later!

"This is why I should've waited until other people got here," said Narumi thoughtfully. "Speaking of which, it's almost dawn, so..."

And right on cue, a door banged open. From somewhere else inside the apartment I heard a babble of voices and rather a lot of crashing about.

"I saw that you let Natsume escape," said a woman's voice as she walked into the room. I stared at her. Although her expression seemed sad and sorrowful, she looked as if she could have been beautiful once. Her features were definitely European rather than Japanese, and her long golden hair was half tied back in a neat ponytail. She looked at me with tired grey eyes. "Who is this?" she said to Narumi.

"Heh, sorry about that," said Narumi, grinning at her in an apologetic manner. "I went out for a few minutes and when I got back, that window was smashed. Mikan here told me that Luca got him out with a bird of his. Mikan, meet Serina Yamada. Serina, I think I've found someone important! Is anyone else staying here today?"

"Yes. Misaki managed to trip over the umbrella stand and pushed me over as he came in," said Serina with a somewhat disapproving look. "I assumed that he had come back from his trip, and I confirmed that later."

"Yeah, I know. I meant Noda and..." His voice faded into the background as I absorbed myself into my confused thoughts.

Serina Yamada's Japanese was flawless, though; she had obviously lived here a long time, probably married a Japanese man. Or maybe it was a fake name. Same with Narumi; even with the perfect accent and everything he obviously wasn't of Asian origin. (I grinned inwardly at the thought of him marrying a Japanese man.) I sighed. Was Serina also a vampire? With all this stuff about fangs and my real parents, I was beginning to consider the real possibility.

_But I can't be a vampire._

It just didn't happen in real life. Real life was working at a shop five days a week and hoping for that lucky break that just hadn't come yet. Real life was studying for exams and failing, and letters of rejection from universities, job applications, everything. Real life was about finding happiness and hope in the smallest of ordinary things, not losing myself in stupid fantasies about vampires. Real life was realising that I wasn't a princess, that my lost parents hadn't really been a duchess and her secret lover, nor had they been vampires. Pah. Real life was helping my granddad with the housework and hoping to find a boy who would lift me out of that life and into a new one - not that I had found him yet. Not a clue. But I knew that one day it would happen. It had to! I dragged my mind back to the present situation. (How had I got to boyfriends again, anyway?) Time for thinking about my future wedding could go later. One thing I knew for certain - real life did not include blood-sucking vampires and colossal eagles breaking into houses.

In any case, whatever this stuff meant was still unclear to me and what I really needed to do was let my granddad know I was safe. Well, at least alive. That was the most important thing. Maybe this was all a hallucination and I would snap out of it any second.

"I need to call my granddad," I said out loud.

Narumi looked up. I could feel Serina's eyes studying my features. Had Narumi just been telling her about my hypothetical mother? Had she known her as well?

_Don't be stupid. Don't get your hopes again. You'll just end up disappointed, like always._

I swept away my depressing thoughts and repeated what I had just said.

"Mikan," said Serina, as if trying out my name. "Mikan, there are entities and connections that rule us, so far down and dark that even I cannot see them clearly. You do not know about any of this. You are an important person in our world, and contact with a human would be deeply dangerous."

I gaped at her. She could _not_ be serious. "No!" I crossed my arms. "I'm not an important vampire or whatever you think I am. I'm just a normal teenager living with her family and I need to talk to him! He's the only real family I've got and you guys are just avoiding my questions and taking me away from everyone that I know, telling all this stuff about _vampires_ and my supposed real mum. This is all, I dunno, _crazy_! I want to wake up now!" I checked myself. Too late - that was definitely too high for normal speech. I thought I saw Serina wince, but then her completely unfazed expression made me think again.

"Mikan, calm down! I just need to explain some things to you, and then you're free to go crazy," Narumi said, giving me a reassuring smile and pat on the shoulder.

"What? I've been asking just to give my granddad a quick call for ages not, then you people do is just tell me all this crazy stuff about vampires and dark spiderwebs or whatever it was! Why won't you let me talk to him?"

"You need to listen to us first," said Serina. Her face showed no apparently change of emotion, but I could have sworn her eyes grew noticeably colder.

"I don't want to hear it!" I yelled. "I need to go. I'm going!" And with that, I rushed out of the room, away from Narumi telling me to come back, down a short corridor, past another shadowy figure in the entrance hall and out of the door.

* * *

I woke up. The sun was shining high in the sky and I instinctively shut my eyes harder and snuggled back into the duvet. Too early to get up...

Then I sat up with a start. What time was it? Had my granddad called the shop and told them I was off sick? A nagging thought about vampires ate away at the back of my mind, but I put it off for now. I hadn't spontaneously run all the way from that apartment back to my house for nothing.

I quickly put on some clean clothes, ate some rice and thought about things. How did I know that it wasn't all just a dream? After all, now that I was back into real life with cold rice and too much washing up to do, everything seemed so much brighter and more normal than anything that had happened last night. Had I really escaped kidnap at the hands of two thugs? Maybe I'd had more alcohol than I thought at that party. I put the dish into the sink and hit my hand hard on the tap.

_Ow ow ow ow ow!_

Rubbing my hand hard, I looked at it to check for a bruises. Ow. Ow. No, no bruise, but there was something else there - a funny-shaped red mark, as if I had been burnt by something. That was strange. I didn't remember seeing it yesterday, and it hurt quite a bit when I poked it.

I brushed my teeth, tied my hair up into its customary two pigtails and set off for the shop. I'd decided to spend a year studying and retaking my failed exams before applying for a university again, and I had made myself useful to my granddad by taking a job as a sales assistant. It wasn't the best paid of all jobs, but at least it was something, and it was very close to my house which meant I didn't have to pass that driving test just yet. Plus, I got to meet people, which was always a good thing. My mood improving as I walked in the good weather, I reached the shop a few minutes later in good spirits and smiled cheerfully at the passer-bys there.

"Hi! Sorry I'm late - did my granddad call this morning? I was in bed because I think I had some sort of weird illness," I said to the manager as I bounced in.

"Yeah, we heard," he said absentmindedly. "There're some things for you to do over there."

I sighed. He never seemed interested in anything I did, and I wondered if I should tell him what happened to me last night. He'd probably just shake his head and call me a dreaming liar, and then give me two extra hours to work because I'd missed this morning making up that story... I guessed that he wasn't going to be my dream guy who'd take me to Paris and propose on that big metal tower thing.

I spent my afternoon rearranging shelves and counting sales. Maths had never been my strong point... I groaned inwardly as I realised that I had another page to do, and reached for the calculator again.

My hand grabbed something small and hard. I frowned as I realised that it wasn't the calculator, but a small card.

_Changed your mind? Call if you want to see me again. x3 Naru_

I was willing to bet that I knew who this "Naru" was. I turned the card over to see a phone number and a few more hearts.

I left the shop a few hours later deeply disturbed. Now my weird hallucination-slash-dream stuff was getting into my normal life - unless I chose to accept it _as_ a part of my normal life. Even if "Naru" was the man I had met last night and not some random girl hoping to go out with my (very handsome, I thought sadly) manager, how on earth had he known where I worked? Were these people spying on me or something? This was just too creepy. First rapists, then murderers, and then a cross-dressing vampire who was also stalking me. I had a feeling that I should be slightly more traumatised than I felt right now - maybe that would come in a few days and I'd have to be delivered to a mental asylum or something. Hmm. I shuddered and went home. Besides, everyone knows that real vampires can't go out in sunlight, and there had certainly been no other time when he could have put the card there. Or maybe he had put it there last night, or even a night before that one. If those people knew who my real parents were, then they probably also knew quite a lot of other stuff about me. This was just getting too confusing and creepy now. I pushed the thought of stalkers out of my head. It was just a card.

That evening, I put the card on my desk and tried not to think about it. As long as weird calling cards were all that came of this, I told myself that I would be fine. Tomorrow, I would email one of my friends or call them, see if they believed me (my honesty had always come under question ever since that time when I said that I had once been scouted for the Takarazuka - in my defence, it had been a very realistic dream), and then laugh about how stupid I'd been. I felt happier already just thinking about it. Lying back in the darkness, I watched sleepily as the moonlight made strange shapes as it shone through the holes in my curtain.

With a new stab of fear, I realised that the silvery shape closest to me exactly matched the burn on my hand.

* * *

The next morning I thought about it over and over again while I sat at the breakfast table and my grandfather asked me what was wrong. I knew my skin was pretty sensitive to sunburn, but not like _that_. You don't get sunburn after spending a few hours in bed with sunlight coming in through a window pane and its ripped-up curtain and warming up your hand. That just didn't happen.

_But nor do vampires._

Vampires can't go out in the sun. But this was stupid - this was the first time I had been burnt so easily like this. My skin hadn't always been like that! Maybe something had happened to me last night. That was when all the weird stuff had started. Or maybe it was nothing to do with the sunlight and sleeping in late at all, and was just a coincidentally similar shaped burn from the kettle.

It was too strange.

I rubbed some burn cream onto my hand and wondered if I should repeat the experiment. Um. What could I do for a few hours while I let my other hand burn up? It was a stupid idea, anyway, it was a waste of time. I probably should get going before I was late for work again.

Sunburn turned into flames and eagles in my mind and brought me back to those other boys, Natsume and Luca. Who were they? I realised with a small shock that I _did_ want to know more about them, that I _did_ want to know more about these people who apparently knew my real mum and thought I was a vampire. This burn on my hand... as much as I didn't want to leave my life with granddad and Yuuki-the-handsome-shop-manager behind, there was, without doubt, something _more_ going on in my life.

That was it. I picked up the phone, ran up to my room to find the card with the phone number, smiled at granddad when he asked what I was going and why I wasn't talking, how unusual, and dialled. No going back now... although I felt more relieved that I had imagined, finally giving in to this curiosity. It'd only been a few hours, though.

"Hello?" I said when the ringing stopped.

"Hello?" said an equally confused voice at the other end. Definitely a man's voice - maybe that Natsume? I frowned at the thought. Why did I keep thinking about him, anyway? Urgh.

"Uh, hi! This is Mikan Sakura, Narumi told me to call." I didn't know what else to say.

"Narumi, your Azumi girl's on the phone," said the voice faintly on the other end. I guessed that this was the other unknown person that I had briefly seen as I had run out of the apartment.

There was a rustling noise as the phone was handed over and then I heard Narumi's voice saying loudly, "Mikan! I knew you'd call someday!"

"Hi!" I said. "Um, I think I do want to know more about who you think I am... not that I'm fully convinced yet," I added. I heard him laughing on the other end.

"I'll meet you by the neon Penguin advert at sunset, okay?"

"Okay!" I replied, and hung up. Well, that wasn't too scary.

* * *

_Thanks for reading - yes, this chapter is quite a bit shorter than the first, but don't worry. This will hopefully be a long-term project._


	3. Forever's gonna start

_Thanks for reviewing, if you reviewed any of the previous chapters._

* * *

_Forever's gonna start tonight..._

* * *

I said goodbye to my grandfather, pulled on a coat and set off for the meeting place. It was dark outside, and after the incident a couple of nights ago, I was rather worried about the possibility of it happening again. I took the spare mobile phone with me this time. I hoped that Narumi would be on time and had remembered that I wanted to talk to him.

Sure enough, he was there, leaning casually against the glowing tubes, light hair tied up in a girl's messy side ponytail and wearing some kind of fluffy purple sweater. Or maybe it was the neon light that made it look purple. "Good evening," he said, smiling.

"Hi!" I replied. "So, um, can you tell me more about all this, you know, stuff? I woke up yesterday and my hand was burnt, and I think it was the sun. Why is this all happening to me now? Why did you just suddenly decide to come into my life at this particular moment anyway?" I took a deep breath, realising that I was running out of oxygen again.

"Big questions," he said with a wave of his hand and started walking along a road. I jogged to catch up. "I took it that you got annoyed when no-one explained clearly about all this, right?"

"Yeah," I said. "And you'd better tell me what Natsume's whole tell-me-your-name-or-I-kill-you deal is." I felt the bruises on my neck painfully.

"Sure! It's nice to have someone new to talk to once in a while, anyway." He looked back at me, just behind him. "Do you mind if we walk back to my place? It'll be easier if other people can help me explain some things."

"Okay, sure. So how do I know I can trust you?"

"You're trusting me right now, aren't you?" He stopped walking and turned around, and grinned at me. Through his parted lips I could see those long fangs again, and I looked away.

"Yeah, I guess... well, you did rescue me from those other guys."

He looked a bit uncomfortable, so I pressed on. "Who was this person you think is my mum?"

"A vampire of high rank in her family. Yuka Azumi." There was an odd note in his voice.

"Where is she now then? Do you know her well?" I wanted to know as much as I could about this whole thing. Get right to the bottom of it all, and find out for sure whether this hunch was fact or fiction.

"Nowhere, as far as I know. She's in exile, and may be dead for all we know."

"Exile?"

"There are laws that we obey, even if they aren't human laws. She broke them, and she was exiled. By law, if anyone finds her, there is nothing preventing them from killing her on the spot. No-one has seen her properly for twenty years."

"Twenty years... that was probably when I was born..." I said slowly. I didn't understand, though. Azumi, Yuka, this woman - this vampire, I thought, and I flinched away from that word - it was all mystery dissolving in mystery.

"Yes."

"Why was she in exile anyway? Couldn't she have brought me up herself if she was really my mother?"

"She fell in love with a human," he said with a wry smile. "Something that went against the deepest laws that we have."

I couldn't say anything except for "Uh".

"I don't know what his name was, but there was a rumour, just a rumour, that she was pregnant when she was exiled. People all around the world have been looking for you, you know."

"And when you say people, you mean vampires, right?"

"Who else would I mean?" he said, laughing. "You're going to have to learn to live in this world now, not the human one."

"It's too strange," I said, after we had walked some way without conversation. "I'm not a vampire. I haven't got funny teeth and I'm not allergic to garlic or anything like that. I've never wanted to drink blood..."

"But your skin's burning now. Which is strange - it's too much of a coincidence for things to be happening like this now, just a day after I met you. My feeling is that there's some deeper plan to this that I can't see, but it's all I can do to try and help you."

_Some deeper plan..._ "Serina Yamada also said something about deep plans, didn't she? Every time I think I'm getting closer to figuring something out, there's just more!"

"It's the same with all kinds of darkness. You're never going to see right to the bottom," Narumi said in strangely far away voice. Then he shook his head and continued in his usual cheerful tone, "But don't worry about those things now. Things might be happening fast now, but the usual rhythm of a vampire life is slow. We live forever, you know?"

"I'm going to live forever?" Wow. That was a plus.

"If another vampire doesn't kill you first." I looked at him. Was he joking?

"Uh, right. So what's with the sudden skin burn? Like I said, it's never happened before. Nothing even remotely vampire-like has happened to me before."

"Vampire children don't have fangs or any vampire features. They age as human children do, until a certain point, usually around twenty or twenty five. That's when they become ageless. The process takes some time, though, so you can expect fangs in a year or so, and your skin will become more and more sensitive to sunlight."

I made a face, not sure if he could see it. So my skin was going to keep burning and I wasn't even going to get the cool stuff for another _year_. I amazed myself with how readily I was able to believe things now, and straight after thinking that, I desperately started hoping that this wasn't some sick joke set up by, well, I didn't know who. I didn't see why anyone would want play such a joke on me anyway, so I pushed that thought away again. Pushing thoughts away was my way of dealing with life.

"So... uh... what else can you say about Yuka Azumi?"

"Not much, until I can explain the politics of vampires. And I hate politics, so I'm going to make Misaki and Serina explain to you. Misaki's the one that you called this morning, you know?"

"Er, right. Are we nearly there?"

"Yeah," and he pushed open a small door in a wall that I would not have noticed otherwise. I squinted at the familiar staircase, wondered how I was going to walk up all that way, and was immediately pulled by the arm into an elevator. Well. That was better.

"Don't worry about Serina," Narumi told me in the elevator. "She's been that way to everyone since her partner died. And Misaki has just always been that grouchy."

"Oh," and I couldn't think of anything more to say.

* * *

"We'll go into the lounge, alright?" said Narumi as he steered me through the corridor, avoiding a small tree that was planted, for some reason, right in the middle of it, and into the room where I had met Natsume. I saw that the window was still smashed. I supposed it was lucky that it was summer.

"Uh, hi," I said nervously to Serina and the man I assumed was Misaki, who were both sitting on the couch. Serina nodded, and the man said, "Hey." Serina was as just as I remembered her, no surprises there.

"Misaki, this is Mikan Sakura. Mikan, this is Daisuke Misaki, who also prefers to be known by his last name only. Have fun!"

I looked round in alarm as he went out of the room. Grouchy people were the worst. I guessed I'd better try, though.

"Nice to meet you!" I said, smiling. "Narumi said that you could tell me about politics or something?"

"I hate politics as well," said Misaki. "Was that that idiot's excuse for not talking to you about it?"

"Um, yeah."

Serina looked up at the ceiling briefly in what could have been a rolling-eyes gesture. Or maybe it wasn't. "What did you ask him?" she said to me. "And what did he tell you, if anything?"

"He told me a bit about Yuka Azumi and how no-one's seen her for ages... and about how I'll become a proper vampire in a year or so." Saying it aloud, it scared me more than I had previously realised. _A proper vampire._

"A year means that you must have seen some sign already," said Misaki. "And sit down somewhere; it's annoying me."

I obediently sat down in an armchair. "Yeah, my skin burnt really easily when I left it in the sun for a morning." It sounded a bit stupid to me now - just one small burn and all this?

"That's too much of a coincidence," said Misaki, frowning. Actually, he had looked like he was frowning before, so it was hard to tell. I looked at him closer - typical Japanese features, scarily skinny and a dark expression.

Serina nodded, and sipped her drink. I didn't really want to know what it was, considering the things I had heard about vampires.

"And then I asked him if he could tell me any more about Yuka"- I couldn't say _my mother_ just yet, it was still too new -"and then he just said that that was politics. Or maybe it was just because we were at this place already. What d'you mean, coincidence?"

"Coincidence meaning that your skin first started burning just the day after you were first introduced to this world," Serina said. "There is always more to a coincidence than you think."

"Did he say anything about the different families? What each coven can do?" said Misaki, looking back to me.

"Nope." He hadn't said anything like that, had he?

"Uhhhhh," Misaki groaned. "This could take a long time. If you're really an Azumi, you've got a lot to learn if you want to stay alive."

"Well, can I start then?"

"There are many different families of vampires," Misaki started. "In addition to the 'normal' vampire traits, there are other things. Other abilities, that are passed down through the generations, and each family often has other things in common as well. Eye colour, hair colour, those things. As a convention, vampires take the surname of the family they show the most traits of."

"...right. So what's, er, the Azumi's one, if that's what I am?"

"Power over other powers. Nullification, stealing, copying, that kind of thing. Powers usually manifest even when you're still a child, but with the Azumi bloodline it's easy to see why you missed it."

"... because I haven't met any other vampires until now."

"Yes."

"I'm glad to see that you're not in denial any more," said Serina. I couldn't really tell if she was being sarcastic or just stating that fact.

"I guess..."

"Anyway, the Azumi's power was one of the most powerful, and this made them one of the most powerful of covens-"

"Was?" I interrupted. "Sorry for interrupting."

"I'm coming to it," said Misaki irritably. "Being powerful means you get powerful enemies, things happened, and Yuka ended up in exile. I can't be bothered to explain any more."

"No, carry on! Please? Sorry for being annoying." I didn't think I was being annoying. Hmph.

"Family feuds, revenge killings, those kind of things," Misaki continued after a while. "The Azumi coven wasn't the only one with power. Their most direct rival was the Koizumi coven - that's the one with power over other vampires' action, a fitting rival, I suppose - and after a few decades, centuries, of fighting and murder, Yuka was the last Azumi. I don't know what happened to the Koizumi's, and they had the right connections so that no-one really could know. Then the whole Yuka exile affair started, and no-one knows if she's alive."

"But... can't you find her? Surely there's _some_ way of finding her? How can she stay hidden for _twenty _years?"

"No-one wanted to get involved with the whole allies and enemies of enemies thing again. Well, almost no-one. Anyway, the whole web of agreements and treaties and feud terms is too much to explain right now, but that was the general story." Misaki sat back.

"My family have the power of clairvoyance," said Serina. My gaze snapped to her. "You heard that Yuka had power over the magic of other vampires. The simplest manifestation of that is the nullification of their powers. I cannot find her as I would have done, if she were of any other bloodline."

"So... what do I have to do with this? I didn't ask to be in this big war or whatever..."

"Didn't you listen?" said Misaki. "Yuka was the last of the Azumi's, at least that we know of, and everyone's been looking for the possibility that the most powerful coven is still alive somewhere. Just by being here, you're a part of this conflict. The only reason you haven't been abducted by some power-hungry coven is because of your Azumi power."

I stared. I didn't want to be part of a conflict! Resolving and avoiding conflict was like my way of life! Scratch that, being human was my way of life!

_Then why did you come here? _said a little voice in my head.

"There's no compromise, if that's what you're thinking," said Serina. She arranged the silver floaty material of her skirt unconcernedly. "And of course, no going back. There is no way that you can live as a human again."

"But you don't even know for sure that I _am_ an Azumi vampire! Even if I've accepted that I'm, um, not human, how do you know I'm this special child that you're all looking for?" I guessed I was in denial again.

"Narumi said that he used his power on you and nothing happened," said Misaki, shrugging. "And Serina couldn't see the street you were standing on when Narumi found you; that's why he ended up investigating that blind spot a few nights ago anyway."

"What power? And... doesn't that explain the coincidence if that's why Narumi found me?"

"Making everyone fall in love with him, and no-"

I snorted before I could help myself and accidentally cut off the rest of what Misaki was going to say. "Sorry, I mean, that doesn't sound like a very dark vampire-like power."

"That's what I always thought," said Misaki, looking at Serina, who said, "Really, I'm not getting into your little squabbles again."

"Coming from someone whose only power is to make flowers talk," said Narumi, surprising me, seeing as I had not noticed him coming back into the room. I looked behind me to see him glaring at Misaki, although there also seemed to be a hint of a joke in his voice and expression.

"Yeah, well-"

"You can make flowers talk?" I said eagerly. "Um, sorry for interrupting."

"I'm going out," said Serina, getting up suddenly and taking a large glass ball from the seat beside her which I had noticed before. "Have fun pulling them apart," she said to me in an almost friendly tone, and she was gone in a swirl of grey silk.

"Anyway," I said as soon as the door closed, "how do you know _for certain_ that I'm the one you're looking for?" I didn't think I was, well, special enough for this kind of thing. The last surviving heir to the most powerful of all vampire families? Hah.

"Azumi's have brown hair and golden eyes," said Narumi, studying my face as he spoke. "Not to mention the fact that, as I said, you look almost exactly like Yuka, and you didn't faint or try to jump me when I tried it on you. And you're the right age, you know, all that." He came and sat down where Serina had just been. Misaki looked a bit annoyed.

"Oh... hey, are there any pictures of Yuka?" I said. I was very curious to see what this mysterious woman was like, and if she really _was_ exactly like me. Seeing as Narumi had said earlier about vampires not aging, she probably looked more like me than a normal mother should. Eh... wouldn't that be a bit, well, weird? Having parents, grandparents, great-grandparents all of the same age? Hmmm.

"Probably not. Photos of vampires are rare, seeing as you have to have an Imai-crafted film emulsion and all that to get an image. I think all the ones of her were destroyed," Misaki explained.

_Typical..._ I suddenly realised how tired I was, and yawned before I could help myself.

"Oh, I forgot - you're still used to sleeping at night, aren't you?" said Narumi, bouncing up off his seat.

"Yeah," I said. "But I don't have to go _now_; I want to know more about all of this!"

"Where's she sleeping?" said Misaki to Narumi.

Narumi looked a bit worried and twiddled with a stray strand of hair. "I don't think you should go back to your grandfather. Seeing him again would be too dangerous."

"What?"

"As in, I want to let you, but you shouldn't."

"I can't talk to my granddad _ever_ again? You're joking, aren't you?" Even though they had sort of told me this quite a few times before - Serina especially - I couldn't quite believe that they were being serious. I mean, sure I probably shouldn't spread this stuff about my mum's secret battle against the Koizumi's around, but I had thought that I would be able to _talk_ to my friends and family ever again. And if I ever had thought that, I hadn't known that the no-human-contact ban would have to come into place tonight! "You can't just, like, stealme away from my family!"

"You don't have a choice - I did tell you why your mother was exiled, didn't I?" said Narumi, his voice rather less lively than usual.

"Yeah, but that was because she, uh, got pregnant! It's not like I'm going to do that." I winced at the thought. Ew.

"But your grandfather is a human, and, well, vampires and humans don't mix," Misaki said.

"Well, I'm not a proper vampire _yet_ - can't this wait until then?"

There was a silence. "Why don't you stay here tonight, and then we can discuss this more when you're more awake?" said Narumi.

I considered it for a minute. I did often stay out at night, and I had told my grandfather that I would probably be away. _And_, I thought sneakily, _no reason why I can't escape when they're asleep. I'm seeing my granddad again, no matter what._

"Sure," I said aloud. "Do you have a spare room?"

* * *

_Don't worry - Natsume will make another appearance one day. Maybe not in the next chapter, but soon. In any case, this fic is intended to be about Mikan, not NatsuMikan._


	4. So many questions

_Once again, thanks for reviewing._

* * *

_So many questions, and answers that somehow seem wrong..._

* * *

It was a lot to think about. Two days ago, I hadn't known anything about this vampire world, and now - now, I felt like my head was going to burst. The phrases 'Azumi' and 'never see granddad' and 'vampire' bounced around inside my mind and it was impossible for me to sleep. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to think about something else for now. Had it really been alright to agree to stay here? I knew I was a naïve and careless girl, and I guessed that this was one of those examples. Sleeping in someone's apartment after knowing them for two days... Hell, I was an adult, so if I got into trouble, it was all on me. I just didn't want my granddad to worry himself.

Power over other powers... it sounded like a paradox. It was extremely cool that vampires had different magics for different families, I thought sleepily. Serina had said that the most basic manifestation of that was nullifying other powers, and Narumi had said that I had done it unconsciously before to him. I wondered what else I could do and if I had to undergo any strenuous training or something like that. Copying other powers? That would be even better! The best of everything.

_Don't get ahead of yourself!_

Tomorrow, I decided, when it's bright and sunny, I'm going to break out and see my grandfather again - if only to tell him goodbye. But then he'll ask where I'm going, and why such short notice? And I'd hate to have to lie to him... I'll cross that river when I come to it, I finally thought.

Yeah, that would work. Now just to sleep.

* * *

_"... to try."_

_"It's too much of a chance - same place, same year? They must know something, and if they see that we're lying-"_

_"We don't even have to go to the meeting anyway, I just accidentally 'forget' to tell my sister for a few months, and who will be the wiser?"_

_"She's not Yuka-"_

_"So stop treating her like Yuka, and don't pretend you..."_

There were angry voices in my dream that weren't part of the dream, or maybe they were, and the dream had been reality... awake or asleep? I couldn't tell. I was back in the darkness again, and back into blissful oblivion.

* * *

I woke up and it was daytime. The sun's rays shining on the unfamiliar beige curtains brightened up the room, and I got out of bed in a happy mood. Then I remembered where I was, and also remembered my see-my-grandfather-again plan. Right. I put on my jacket and socks, straightened out my crumpled clothes and attempted to brush my hair with my fingers. Then I saw that someone had left a hairbrush on the side table, so I gratefully used that instead.

I opened the spare bedroom's door and peered out along the corridor. Seeing no trouble except for that random tree in the middle of it, I crept slowly past the other closed doors of the corridor. That one there was the living room, and that was the bathroom, and so the front door was that one.

"Ow!" I hastily covered my mouth. _Ow ow ow._ I sucked my finger - I had accidentally scratched myself on that stupid tree. It wasn't bleeding or red, so I shook it hard and looked around. I could not hear or see anyone else in the place, so I assumed I was safe.

Outside, it was as sunny as yesterday and my feeling of exultation deepened. Now I could go wherever I wanted! Smiling broadly to myself, I walked down the roads to my house, taking care to cover my face with the shadow of my cap. I didn't want to take the risk of being burnt again.

I opened the front door and called, "Granddad? Are you home?" There was no answer.

Great. He must have gone out for the day. I stepped inside and took off the jacket. It was getting uncomfortably hot. Walking into the kitchen, I noticed a note on the table:

_Mikan,_

_I've just received an emergency call as my brother has suffered a fatal accident, and it was imperative that I go and make suitable arrangements. With luck I will be back in little more than a week. I tried to contact you but your phone was not working - in any case, you were not close to him, so I did not think it necessary for you to go too._

_See you soon,_

_Your grandfather._

I read the note over again with some concern. I didn't know what to make of it. And had I really forgotten to tell him that my old phone had been flushed down a toilet? I cursed myself for being so forgetful. Well, I supposed I'd better come back in a few days, as there was no point waiting around for him to come back right now. I sighed. I took a few things from the house that I thought I might need later - books, diaries and some mementos, grabbed some fruit and a bag of food and went back outside. There wasn't exactly much to be done at home. It was a Saturday, so no work, although I supposed I should hand in my whatever-you-call-it quitting my job thing. Turning in the direction of the shop, I started on my way.

A few minutes later, an expensive-looking car pulled up beside me. "Can you help me, please?" said a young woman sitting inside, rolling down a tinted window. I could not see anything of her except for her dark sunglasses.

"Sure, what is it?" I said, smiling politely and brushing some hair out of my face.

"I was just wondering, how do I get to the train station? I can't find it on this map." Her voice had an accent that I didn't recognise to it - it didn't sound like she came from this part of Japan, at least.

"If you mean the Lower West Country one, then it's just along this road and then the second right," I said, trying to remember where exactly it was. "Yeah, it is. Is that okay?"

"Thank you," she said smoothly. She rolled up the window and drove off.

I hefted my food bag onto my shoulder and continued walking. I had not gone further than a few metres before I felt a cold hand tight on my wrist, and another on my mouth that smothered my instinctive shout. I kicked and struggled, but whoever this was, they were stronger than me. Before I knew it, I had been dragged into the doorway of some sort of shaded building.

"Mikan, stop moving!" said an irritable voice. I stopped trying to get free - I recognised that voice.

"Misaki?"

"Yes, well done," he muttered, taking his hands off me and turning me around to face him. "We need to go."

I didn't even have time to register what he had just said before the world swirled around me, making my eyes water and my head spin. I closed my eyes tight - when I opened them a few seconds later, I saw that I was back in the vampires' apartment. The living room, and that tree which had been in the corridor when I left had somehow moved to the doorway of this room.

"A teleportation Stone," Misaki explained, showing me a greenish-blue crystal on a chain around his wrist. "These things are made by the Imai family with the extracted magic of other families," he continued when my confused face didn't change.

"Right," I said. Was he talking about how we got here or the tree? I was a bit confused. "Um, what just happened?"

He sighed, hands crossed over his chest in what was probably an angry look. I shrank back nervously. "You ran into trouble, so I got you out."

"What trouble? You mean... that woman in the car?" I couldn't really think of anything else he might have meant. Then I realised something else. "Hey... you knew I had snuck out!"

"Yes. And we thought you might secretly go out, so when the spying-tree told me it saw you going, I went and made sure you were safe."

"This tree can talk?" I said sceptically, eyeing the wizened bark.

"Only to people that it wants to talk to," snapped Misaki. "Look, the main thing is that I didn't know someone would be watching you. Don't you get it? That woman-"

"Who was she?" I interjected.

"This is why I don't like little girls," muttered Misaki to himself. I glared at him. Grouchy git. "I don't know who she was, but she probably wasn't someone who wanted you here with us, and I'm betting that she doesn't even want you alive. She was probably watching you as soon as you got out of this building-"

"So she saw my house," I said. _Oh, crap. My granddad._

"Yes. I knew I shouldn't have let Narumi persuade me that this was any sort of good idea! That idiot..." Misaki's dark eyes bored into mine. "Don't worry. I don't think they'll try anything for a long time, though, and we'll make sure of your protection until you can fight for yourself."

"What about my house? My grandfather?" I said urgently.

Misaki shook his head. "I don't know."

"She's going to do something to him, I know it!" My voice was rising again.

"That may be so, but I don't know if we can do anything about that."

"That's crazy!" I shouted. "Why is all of this so _stupid?! _What, I'm not allowed to protect my own family from mortal danger now?"

"Mikan," Misaki said quietly, "these things will take time. I don't think anyone's going to try anything big until they know exactly what's at stake and the standing of the leaders. Everything will be safe for now."

"And how long's that?"

"A few years, maybe."

I didn't get it. Why so long? I voiced that thought aloud.

Misaki's face moved in what could almost have been a smile. "You're young, and it seems like a long time to you. To most players in these games, it's just a short delay. But it'll be enough for you to learn a little more about the rules."

I turned around and sat down on the now very familiar couch and let out a long breath. "Thanks for rescuing me from something I didn't even realise was there," I said after a while. Then I thought of another thing - "Hey, were you following me then? I thought vampires couldn't go out in the sun."

"You're welcome," he replied shortly, turning to go out of the room. "Part of the uniqueness of my bloodline is higher strength against sunlight. Besides, there are other ways of getting about, like I showed you."

"Oh... I guess I'd better stay in here, then."

"What would you normally be doing right now?"

"Huh? Oh, right, uh - probably out shopping with a friend or watching a DVD at their house, I guess. Why?"

"Because I want to sleep. There's nothing for you to do here except eat and watch TV and annoy my plants, and I don't want to let you risk going out again. You should be with people your own age, anyway. When your body clock has adjusted..."

"It's fine," I said. "If I just spend the day being lazy, my body clock will be fine for staying up at night."

"Then I think you should meet some other people as soon as possible. It'll be better for you to be well connected before any other rumours get out. Do what you like in this apartment, and don't pick any flowers." He went out and left me alone in the room. I heard doors opening and closing elsewhere, and then the place was silent again.

"Sure," I said to myself, slightly puzzled and still worried sick about that mysterious expensive-car-woman and my granddad. Was it really a coincidence that he had been called out today?

But he would be safe for a few days. Surely. He had already been gone when I had led the woman to my home - or had she already been following me that other time I went home from this apartment? And why had she revealed herself this time anyway? Maybe to get a closer look at me, I supposed, to see if I was really that important, although I wasn't quite sure how she had gotten news of my appearance so quickly. So was she really one of the 'bad guys' as Misaki had thought? Then why hadn't she just taken her chance to attack me right then and there? Ah, but Misaki had been with me all the time, so maybe she had known about my secret protection, saw him and didn't want to risk it... Those tinted windows and large dark sunglasses would probably prevent the sunlight from harming her in the car, but she wouldn't have been able to do much else apart from sit and watch. Oh, it was just too confusing.

And Misaki said that vampires took years to do anything. I hoped that would be the case. But everything had been happening so fast this week...

I sat back and drank some of my cranberry juice, then looked for the TV remote. They had said I was allowed to watch TV last night, so why not? I had a whole day to kill before I could ask anyone for answers.

* * *

"You alright?" said Narumi, standing over me. I opened my eyes to see that it was now dark, and that I had fallen asleep on the couch, thanks to the calming lullaby that was pouring into my ears from my MP3 player.

"Hi, yeah, I'm great!" I said, turning it off. "Oh yeah... did Misaki tell you about what happened today then?"

"I heard," he said, his perfect features crumpling in a frown. "Did you see anything of what the woman looked like?"

I shook my head. "Really large dark sunglasses, but that was it."

"Doesn't help," he said. "Well, this is annoying."

"Didn't Misaki recognise her at all? At _all_?"

"He said that she was probably using some sort of illusion magic so that he couldn't see her until she got close to you. I do wonder, though, why she went so close to you and dispelled her own illusion," he said thoughtfully.

"Maybe she didn't know that I could cancel it out?"

"Not if she suspected you enough to follow you _and_ bothered to put on an illusion in the first place. Those Stones are pretty expensive. Maybe some sort of voice sampling?" Then he shook his head, as if trying not to worry about these odd things and conspiracy theories. "But still, tonight I think you should meet some other people, because you're going to get bored stuck with all of us old people." He smiled and held out a hand to pull me up into a sitting position.

"You don't look old," I said before I could help myself. "I mean, you know, uh, was that rude?"

He smiled again. "I'm probably older than you think."

"So how old are you?"

"Over a hundred, but that's still quite young compared to some of the leaders."

I shook my head in disbelief. He seemed so ... young and lively and, well, young. "That's so strange. What leaders?"

"Every family has a leader," he said, laughing at the dumbfounded look on my face. "Speaking of which, there's going to be a meeting for them in a few months, and we're going to have to announce your appearance there." He looked a bit uncomfortable saying that, and I suddenly remembered the voices I had heard during the night.

"What for?"

"They keep tabs on everything; you know, deciding who gets privileges in a fair fight and when a feud has ended, all that stuff. It's the law to announce births and deaths in the meetings, and if we don't go, it'll look suspicious. Especially after we know that we're not the only ones who know of your existence. Technically your appearance would come under a new birth in the law."

"Sorry for sneaking out," I mumbled. "This is all my fault!"

Narumi sat down next to me and looked at me with clear green eyes. I looked away, a little uncomfortable with his slightly eerie, well, _prettiness _- that was the only word I found fitting, really - and the strangeness of those eyes. Not human. "It's not your fault," he said gently. "Don't go blaming yourself for everything, or you'll never get anything done."

"But it's true! Now my granddad is in danger and I've put you all at risk and-"

"No, you haven't. There's danger everywhere, and just because you wanted to see someone you loved doesn't mean that you should kill yourself for it. If anything, I shouldn't have let you go. Now, stop worrying about it, and we'll go and visit the other kids your own age, alright?"

"Okay," I said after a while. I stood up and put my shoes on, wondering if we were walking or going by some other means of transport.

"Ready?" said Narumi, also standing up and looking for something on the table.

"Yeah, I guess."

Narumi touched my hand - I jumped a little, as the coldness startled me - and the world swirled around me for the second time that day. I staggered back upright, feeling a little queasy. I guessed that teleportation thing would take some getting used to. I looked up, and saw that we were in a doorway of dark room lit only by a few candles. There were a few figures sitting and standing around, all staring at us in confusion.

"Hello!" Narumi was saying to them. "Everybody, meet Mikan."

* * *

_... and thanks for reading. Smile!_


	5. The moment

_I haven't had the time or energy to write anything in the last two weeks, so this is what I wrote before then. That means that I haven't got anything new to post after this, so there may or may not be an update next week._

* * *

_..._

_I felt the moment I laid eyes on you..._

_...  
_

* * *

The room gradually moved back into action as the figures within unfroze. Narumi gave me a small push forwards, and I stepped into the room.

"What's your name?" a female voice said. Not in a welcoming tone - a threatening tone. I looked around for the speaker, but I had lost her.

"Hi, everyone," I said nervously. "I'm Mikan Sa-" I stopped, wondering if I should say my hypothetical Azumi surname, seeing as Sakura wouldn't mean anything to these people.

"She's an Azumi," said Narumi smoothly. "I hope that you'll all be nice to her and be good friends." The silence that greeted these words did not seem very encouraging to me.

"She's an Azumi?" the same voice that had spoken earlier said incredulously. A girl stepped out of the shadows, into the flickering light of the candles. "You can't possibly believe that, can you?"

I wasn't sure who she was talking to. When no-one answered, I opened my mouth and made an unsure "Ah-" sound, but Narumi had also just started talking.

"Well, I have to go, so I'll see you later, Mikan? Bye!" and had disappeared before I could even think about stopping him or shouting, "You can't leave me alone with these people!!"

"He's got to be joking," said the girl, an angry expression on her face as she looked at me. Her hair seemed to gleam an odd shade of green in the candlelight; was that some sort of weird effect or was it actually that colour? I couldn't really see much of her, anyway.

"Natsume, that's the girl in his apartment," said a quiet voice in the back of the room. It sounded familiar... and so did that name.

Natsume?

"Huh," said an annoyingly familiar voice. A bright ball of fire suddenly threw the whole room into sharp focus, and I could see exactly who I was talking to.

"It's you!" I cried, stepping back half in anger, half in shock. What I suspected had come into definite truth. "That weirdo who tried to kill me in Narumi's place! What're you doing here?!"

"Don't you dare talk to Natsume like that!" snapped the girl before Natsume had a chance to react. I took another step back as she continued, "What are you going here anyway - that's the real question!" She glared at me, daring me to answer.

"Sumire, stop it," growled Natsume. The green-haired girl sat down, her arms crossed. "As for you," he said, turning his glower onto me, "explain yourself."

"I'm Mikan," I said carefully, and then wasn't sure what to say next. Should I say that I was possibly Yuka's daughter? That I really had no idea what I doing here in a room full of vampires looking like they would like nothing better than to see me dead? That I honestly had no idea why I had been pulled into this whole drama in the first place?

"... in the first place?" I heard a voice saying. Wait, that wasn't my voice. I didn't sound like a boy.

"You don't have any idea why Narumi brought you here?" said the green-haired girl, Sumire, her scowl turning into a more arrogant, snobbish expression. I guessed that was her usual face. It made her look somehow feline, graceful but fierce and proud. Very proud.

"Did he just read my mind?" I said, looking at a small brown-haired boy in the corner wearing an innocently wide smile on his face.

"She's an idiot," said Natsume with a dismissive jerk of his hand. Sumire smirked at him in the kind of way that made me want to slap her.

"But we should at least find out why Narumi's so interested in her," said Luca next to him. I noticed a small white rabbit sitting in his lap Natsume nodded briefly. I waited for someone to say something, because I had nothing to say myself, except to scream in outrage and shock that someone had just read my mind. And I had a feeling that I would look very stupid if I did that.

As I was thinking about how not to look stupid, there was a sudden flare of light - my eyes snapped to the ball of fire, which was hurtling towards me - I closed them impulsively and the next thing I knew, a blinding light pieced my tightly shut eyelids and there was a sound like thunder cracking over my head. Then there was darkness, and a gentle wind washed hot air over my face. I lowered my arms, not having realised that I had raised them before.

What the hell?

"Looks like she's got something," said Natsume - was that a note of approval in his voice? I couldn't really hear. The boom of whatever had just passed over my head was still ringing in my ears.

I opened my eyes, slowly. The ball of fire that had been suspended over his head a few seconds ago had gone, and the room had gone back to almost pitch black. A few candles flickered timidly. "What just happened?" I said.

"Natsume tried to fry your brains out, that's what happened," said Luca, looking furious. "What the hell were you trying to pull?"

"Azumi's aren't affected by magic," said Natsume lazily, pointing a finger to somewhere just above his head. Another fireball formed. Looked like his power was fire, then. So that explained that burning threat a few days ago. "She did that to me last time I saw her as well."

"You didn't tell me that," said Luca to Natsume while I was still taking the whole event in.

"You just tried to kill me - again?" I could not believe this! What was that guy's problem?!

"I knew you weren't going to be affected, so no," said Natsume. He shrugged.

His nonchalance just made me all the more furious. "I can't believe you! You think my life's worth that little so you send a flaming ball of whatever to just test out your little theory! What if you were wro-"

"Oh, calm down," said Sumire, rolling her eyes and flicking a curl of hair out of her face. I noticed that although the sides of her oddly coloured hair were curly and bounced as she moved her head, her bangs and the back of her bobbed haircut were perfectly straight. "Natsume would never be so stupid as to try something like that out without knowing what would happen."

"That's what you say," I muttered.

"So now that we've found out she's an Azumi, shall we introduce ourselves?" said Luca. He smiled at me in a kind sort of way. I smiled back.

Natsume grunted, Sumire didn't bother reacting and everyone else nodded.

"I'm Luca Nogi," said Luca. "And this is Natsume Hyuga."

"Pleased to meet you," I said to Luca, pointedly not looking at Natsume. From the corner of my eye I saw Sumire hiss in anger, revealing a flash of sharp teeth.

"Hotaru Imai," said a small girl in the corner. Her voice was monotonic and sounded as if she was completely and utterly bored of the whole matter.

"Kokoyomi - not my real name, of course" said the grinning boy who had read my mind. I supposed that was what he was known for, given that nickname.

"Yuu Tobita," another brown-haired boy said, although his glasses enabled me to tell the difference easily. He looked - and sounded - a bit nervous in the presence of Natsume, who was by now lounging on a large armchair apparently not caring for these introductions.

"Sumire Shouda," Sumire said when Luca sent her a sharp look. She spat out the words, obviously not wanting to recognise my existence. I'd better watch out.

"Hi, everyone," I said again. "Um, I don't know what to say next," I continued when everyone seemed to be waiting for me to continue.

"What're you waiting for?" said Natsume when everyone looked at him. I wondered why they all seemed to think he was so important. "Go talk to her so I can get back to whatever I was doing before." He turned to Luca and started saying something I could not hear.

"Hey! Everybody calls me Koko for short, so you can call me that," said the mind reader, bouncing happily up to me with Yuu Tobita in tow. "So... how old are you? Have you got your fangs yet? Who're your parents? Why haven't I seen you around here before?"

I was slightly overwhelmed by this mass of questions, and tried to answer them as honestly as I could. "Uh, I'm nineteen, no I haven't, I think my mum's meant to be Yuka Azumi and I was adopted by, er, a human family. So that's why I don't know about any of this. Er, what's your real name then?" I noticed that Koko's teeth looked pretty normal, so I assumed that he was about at the same stage as I was.

"You were brought up by humans?" said Koko, raising his eyebrows and ignoring my question.

"Yeah," I said, not sure if I should say anything else about that.

"You were raised by humans, and are the daughter of Yuka Azumi," said the monotonic dark-haired girl - Hotaru, wasn't it? The way she said it made it sound like a statement, not a question.

"That's what Narumi says," I told her. She looked at my face and seemed to be considering something. I noticed that her eyes were a strange purple colour. Definitely not human, then. As if I hadn't known that before.

"It'll be interesting to get to know you," she said after a while. I smiled at her, unsure how to respond.

"That's her way of saying, 'You're cool and I want to be friends,' " said Koko, still grinning. I found myself wondering if he ever stopped grinning.

"Oh," I said.

(line)

Mostly through Koko's friendliness and generally cheerful personality, I found myself quite easily enveloped in this friendship circle, if you could call it that. At least, Koko and Yuu were quick to include me in their conversations, and Hotaru wasn't exactly openly cold, even if she wasn't exactly openly warm either. But the others - Sumire, Luca and Natsume - seemed to pretend that I wasn't there, except to sneer when I made a particularly stupid comment.

Okay, Luca sometimes said a few words to me and - I think - tried to get the other two to be somewhat nice, from what I saw of their conversations. Not to very much effect, though.

"What is their problem?!" I fumed after Sumire had sent me a particularly catty and scathing look. It had already been about an hour since Natsume had tried to fry my head, although Koko's cheerfulness was quite infectious and it felt as if really very little time had passed.

"Heh... I don't really think we should say bad things about Natsume when we're in his apartment," said Yuu uneasily. He seemed to be always a little nervous. Just like Koko being always happy and Hotaru being always... nothing, and Sumire and Natsume being always nasty. Which brought me back to what Yuu had just said.

"What?! This is Natsume's place?"

"Um, yeah. Didn't you know?"

"We just all hang out here because he has the best apartment in town to himself," said Koko.

"It's not like anyone told me!" I said angrily. I did not want to be in the house of my would-be murderer! Hmph. Even if he did have the most comfortable armchairs that I had ever sat in.

"We figured Narumi did, seeing as he brought you said," said Koko, spreading his hands out in a gesture of 'so what?'

"We can go for a walk," suggested Hotaru. I looked at her and saw what might have been a faint smile.

"Yeah, that'll be great," I said, wondering if that would piss Natsume off more. I did wonder why he hadn't just kicked me straight out, if this was his apartment. "Wait, I'm not sure if Narumi wanted me to go back to his place tomorrow, uh, this morning, whatever. Or I might go to my house. Actually, maybe I shouldn't... Or maybe-"

"I'm sure he'll find you," said Hotaru, standing up and going over the door, ignoring Sumire's look of indignation at her escape. "Are you coming or not?"

"You're living with Narumi?" said Koko as we scrambled towards the door.

"Actually, I've only known about this whole vampire thing for a couple of days, but so far yeah. I don't really know what I'm going to do, because I don't think it's safe to go back to living with my granddad... anyway, I don't really think Narumi wants me stay at his apartment forever, but no-one's told me anything..."

"I think it's actually Misaki's place, technically, although a lot of that generation like to stay there when they visit this town," said Hotaru vaguely, looking around the corridor. "Oh, the stairs are over there."

"I hate stairs," Koko grumbled. "Couldn't Natsume just get a building with a lift in it?"

"That generation?" I asked, not sure if Koko was expecting an answer.

"You know, like Narumi and Misaki's age," said Yuu. "Does he stay there a lot?"

"Who? What, Narumi? I dunno, like I said I've only been here for, what, two days? I can't remember. Why? But I thought it was his place, 'cos he was the one asking if anyone was staying there, I remember. Oh yeah, and for some reason Natsume was there and he broke out through Luca's giant eagle... I think." I realised that I probably sounded a little bit crazy, so I stopped talking abruptly.

Koko snorted. "What, Natsume was in Naru's place? He'll never live it down."

"Narumi isn't one of Natsume's favourite people," explained Yuu. "I just asked because my dad always says stuff about Narumi being, you know, weird. And Misaki is with him an awful lot of the time..."

"Narumi probably rescued Natsume from something or other," said Hotaru, taking no notice of Yuu. "Like always, but Natsume doesn't like to admit his help."

"Oh yeah, so what is Natsume and Sumire's big stressy problem? It's like they just don't want to even try to like me or something!"

"You shouldn't be so disrespectful," said Yuu, glancing quickly up at where we had just come from.

"Says the person talking about Naru's not-very-secret gay relations," said Koko, poking him.

"And it's not like it's my problem! They're the ones who try to kill me every time they see me! You know, when we were in Narumi's apartment and before Luca came in with that giant bird, the first thing he did to me was to throttle me! What kind of person does that?!"

"Maybe he thought you were some kind of assassin," suggested Koko.

"That's most probably not far from the truth," said Hotaru.

"I was unconscious! Wow, I really was one crappy assassin."

"Natsume's whole life is basically people trying to, um, murder him," Yuu said. "He's a leader, you know."

"Uh, no I didn't know. And what's a leader?" Narumi had mentioned them very briefly a few hours ago, but I had sort of forgotten what he had been saying.

Hotaru stopped and turned around to look at me. "I've never talked to anyone so ignorant of everything," she said, and then started walking again. God, how many stairs were there? I could see why Koko hated them.

"I didn't even know vampires existed until last Thursday," I said defensively.

"I wasn't insulting you; merely stating my surprise," Hotaru replied calmly. She would've reminded me of Serina if her looks hadn't been the complete opposite in just about every way possible. "Every family has a leader, although the actual title and election methods vary between families."

"Leader? Election? You mean, like an emperor or Prime Minister?"

"Basically."

"So... Natsume is like the king of the whatever his surname is?"

"Hyuga, and yes."

"Although there aren't really many of them left," Koko interrupted. "I think it's just him and maybe a few of his siblings and cousins, who we've never seen."

"Being a leader isn't an easy task. They're the ones right in the middle of things, and assassinations are just what they expect."

"Oh," I said. I wasn't ready to forgive Natsume just yet, but I wouldn't really want to be where he was. If he wasn't so annoyingly maddening...

"And Sumire's also quite a high rank," said Koko, disrupting my Natsume-hates-me-and-he's-an-idiot thoughts.

"... huh? Oh, right. Is she like a queen as well then?"

"A princess," said Koko. It might just have been me, but his grin seemed to grow wider as he spoke. "Her family do things by direct inheritance, and she's the next in line after her dad."

"Wow," I said. "I guess that's why she's so snooty towards me."

"She just thinks you're too un-vampire-like with your complete lack of knowledge of, well, everything. And she might be jealous of your cool power," said Koko. "But she's great, usually, so don't judge her too quickly." His words didn't exactly reassure me. Sumire seemed pretty okay with judging me too quickly.

I looked at Koko, remembering something I had been meaning to ask before. "Hey... if you have the power of mind reading, and I have some sort of weird Azumi power-power, what's everyone else's?"

We had reached the bottom of the stairs, and had come out into a starry night. I wrapped my jacket tighter around myself, and followed Hotaru and Yuu to wherever they were going.

"Natsume has fire, if you hadn't noticed before, and Luca Nogi can speak to animals. The Tobita's, including Yuu, can cast illusions, and my family make things. Enchanted daggers, Stones, all those useful things."

"I can make an illusion for you if you want to see an example," said Yuu helpfully.

"Uh, sure," I said, hoping it wouldn't be too bad for my health. A moment later, I wasn't standing in a dark and cold road anymore - I was standing on what seemed to be a path made of pink candy-floss, in warm sunlight. I rubbed my eyes, disconcerted. Illusion? More like a hallucination.

"Is that it?" I said, my voice wavering. This was... strange. Too strange. I wanted the real world back, and fought to overcome the surge of panic that threatened to overtake me. What was I doing in this world of fluffy pink stuff?

"Yeah." I heard Yuu's voice as if through a muffled wall; I couldn't see him in this place he had put me in. I blinked hard, and when I opened my eyes again I was back in the dark street.

"You okay?" said Koko. Hotaru was watching, and seemed to be a little amused by my confusion, and Yuu was smiling nervously. Again.

"I'm fine," I said. "That was, uh... cool!" I said to Yuu. "Kinda, um, strange though." I felt like I needed to lie down and sort out my head, and that had only been a few seconds of illusion...

He laughed uneasily. "You could probably fight your way out of any magic trick, if you're really an Azumi."

"I guess I need to train my power," I said, looking at my hands. "Hey, where are we going?"

"Do you want to see a movie?" said Hotaru, some way in front of us. "No-one here has their fangs yet so we'll be fine with the humans there, and Narumi probably won't come back for you at least until three. You've got plenty of time."

"Sure!" I said happily. I loved movies.

* * *

___Read, review, PM, comment, criticise, hate, love, flame me._


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